Homunculus
by aROCKisaki
Summary: Edward meets Dina, a misterious girl that looks like his mother. Dina and Edward are so alike when it comes to behaviour. The story starts whenever you like, the important idea is that Edwards is already an army alchemist and the Elrics are still searching the philosophical stone. Who is Dina and what is her destiny? Read and find out!
1. Dina

There they were, in front of the Central Library, staring at the huge building: Alphonse and Edward Elric.

"So… here we are!" Ed said proudly.

"Brother…" Al started. But Ed wasn't paying attention. He was continuously watching the building like he built it on his own. "Brother…" Al tried again. No response at all. Ed was feeling something about that place, and he wouldn't move until he would figure out what it was.

Then Alphonse took his brother by the shoulders and pushed him towards the entrance, when Edward realized that he was dreaming with his eyes opened again and he started walking on his own. He pushed the door open and entered while his brother was following him. After Al closed the door, Ed stopped in front of a large group photograph in which he recognized Mustang, Armstrong and Hawkeye.

"Brother!" Al shouted. He was looking towards the registration. "Look!" Ed turned his head towards the registration. "She looks like mother…" Al added.

There was a girl, more of a teenage girl, talking to the librarian. She was wearing a black poncho, leather jeans and a pear of leather army boots. Her brown hair was braided. Her skin was almost white and her lips were thin and reddish. She looked upset.

"HAA?" she shouted towards the librarian. Ed and Al could clearly hear her. "What do you mean by 'only for army alchemists'?!"

"I meant that only army alchemists are allowed to read the content in the books that you have required" the librarian replied calmly.

The girl crossed her arms at her chest, and stared at the librarian. She was thinking about what she could do to obtain the books she needed. As she was waiting for her idea to hit her, Edward approached the registration asking the librarian for books about the homunculus. Both the girl and the librarian stared at the alchemist: he asked for the same books as the girl did. The librarian wanted to tell him the same story as he did to the girl, but he didn't have time to at least open his mouth, because Ed took out from his pocket and showed him his watch.

The girl noticed it was the type of watch that she needed and she was, in a way, jealous because she didn't have one. The librarian wrote three numbers on a piece of paper and gave it to the alchemist: "The first number is the sector of the library, the second is the bookcase, and the last one is the shelf where you will find the books about homunculus" the librarian explained.

"Thank you" Ed replied. He turned towards his brother: "Al!"

"Uh…" the librarian started. "Is your… knight friend an army alchemist, too?" he continued.

The alchemist turned back at the librarian and looked at him piercingly. "What do you mean?"

"I meant that if he is not an army alchemist…"

"What?" the boy asked eagerly.

"He cannot enter that sector with you…"

"Even if it is about the Full Metal Alchemist?" Ed asked proudly, knowing that telling his nickname always worked.

"Oh, my lord…" the librarian said looking better at Edward. "I didn't recognize you… You two are the Full Metal Alchemist and his brother… But how come you so short?" the librarian asked ironically staring at Edward.

"I'm just short!" the alchemist replied upset.

"Okay then. Anything for the Full Metal Alchemist!" the librarian replied. After that he took out some papers and started reading and rearranging them.

The girl stared continuously at the young man next to him. She never thought about meeting the Full Metal Alchemist. She heard about him, she knew a few things, things that probably she shouldn't have known and that possibly, are not known by many people. And she had a vague idea that she had some other profound connection with him. And there he was, right in front of her. She wanted to ask him for help with the books, but, then again, she thought that he would've told her the same thing as the librarian did, turn his back at her, and walk away towards the sector of the Central Library where she couldn't follow him because she didn't have the watch.

"Come on, Al!" Ed said once again towards his brother. The girl knew that she would never have that opportunity again, so she encouraged herself to speak:

"Excuse me!" she said finally.

The alchemist turned to her and looked at her with 'a question mark above his head' even though he thought she might want to talk to him after seeing his watch.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I was wondering…" the girl started. "Could you… help me… with some books… since you're an army alchemist…? I need… I mean…" she couldn't help being nervous even if she tried so hard not to be. She couldn't find her words and she felt embarrassed.

"Get your own watch!" Ed said careless. "If you wanna read those books, you gotta work hard for them, like I did."

The girl wasn't surprised when she heard his answer. She thought he would say something like that so she didn't feel bad listening to his words. At least, not that bad.

"Brother!" Al said.

Ed turned to his brother and asked whispering: "What?"

"Come on" Al said also whispering. "Don't be like that! You know how it is to be in her position! Help her!"

Ed sighed looking helpless at the teenage girl. He smiled to encourage her. "Okay then" he finally said. "I will take you to the Center so they can assess you and see if you are able to be an army alchemist."

The girl nodded and smiled back to the alchemist. Ed turned back to the librarian and showed him the piece of paper that he gave him. "I'm leaving and coming back later. Can I keep this?"

"Sure. Of course. Whatever" the librarian replied keeping his eyes on his papers.

"So…" Ed started. "How should we call you?" he asked the girl.

"Dina. And you're Edward Elric…"

"Yes!" Ed said proudly. He realized people started to finally recognize him as the Full Metal Alchemist and his brother as 'the brother' and not the other way round. "Well then, Dina, you must know that once you're in the army, you will have to do whatever you are told to do. You know that."

"Yes"

"And you're sure you wanna do this? Because I thought it would be okay before I enlisted, too, but now I understand why everyone was warning me about that; because now they are 'dealing' me in every way."

"Yes. I am sure. I need to know; therefore I need to do this, too."

"Okay. Don't tell me I didn't warn you…"

"_I **DID** warn you!"_


	2. The Fight

There were plenty of people in the Center. Rumors going from left to right, shouts down the corridors, men going up and down the stairs, phones ringing: a lot of noise and movement.

Dina and the two brothers stopped after they entered so Ed could find someone he recognized so he can talk to about the girl. He didn't want to go directly to Mustang because he couldn't suffer him. He saw Hawkeye running to the left, he tried to call her, but she couldn't hear him. Ed made a few steps further trying to see someone – anyone! – but, still, he couldn't recognize no one.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him; someone – or something – big, heavy, and breathing hot air in the back of his neck. Firstly, he thought it was his brother, but it couldn't be him since he can't breathe. Then, the penny dropped.

"Mr. Elric!"

Ed turned towards the man that called him. He guessed well: Armstrong.

"What brings you here, Mr. Elric?" Armstrong asked with a big smile on his face.

"I came with her" Ed pointed his hand in Dina's direction. "I want someone to evaluate her and, if she is capable enough, give her the watch."

"Then you've got luck!" Armstrong said, his smile growing bigger and glory pink stars beginning to twinkle all around him. "I am one of the few people who can convince Mr. Mustang to do something he doesn't want to! And that's because of my handsomeness!"

A question mark 'rised' upon Dina's head while a drop went down Edward's.

"Come with me!" Armstrong said glorious.

The three teenagers followed him into Mustang's office where he, obviously, was and Armstrong managed to convince him to evaluate the girl the boys came with.

"Alright, alright!" Mustang said standing up and moving towards the four. "I'll do it, you don't need to insist that much!" Dina smiled towards him as in a "thank you" while Roy tried an evil smile. "I do have a condition, though. And that is that Dina has to fight with Edward for his watch."

"WHAT'S THAT?!" Ed yelled towards the colonel. "What do you mean 'MY watch'?!"

"Well, since you brought her and you want to help her, you can give her you're watch if she's better then you."

"B-but… why MINE?" Ed asked confused.

Roy came right near the blond alchemist, took him by the shoulder and whispered to his ear: "I can see that she's no good. I don't wanna bother writing hundreds of reports and papers to tell the boss that I evaluated her and she can't do anything. It would be a waste of time, paper and nerves."

"But how do you know she's no good?!" Ed said, not whispering.

Mustang closed his eyes and swallowed. He then opened his eyes and looked at Edward who didn't even care about what he was thinking of him right then; not even if he was thinking about killing him for making him a bad reputation.

Dina, on the other hand, did care about what the colonel was thinking of her. When she heard Edward she felt like she just fell into a big canyon. Roy didn't even watch her fighting and yet he already said that she's no good. That didn't encourage her too much; in fact it made her lose a little bit of her self confidence.

"I'll show you…" she said after a few moments of contemplation. "You'll see… I AM worth it."

Roy looked at her with a fake smile on his face. He wouldn't change his opinion about her no matter what she would tell him; but he tried to be nice, smile and nod to give her at least some hope.

After about an hour the whole Center court yard was plenty of soldiers and alchemists, leaving an empty circle in the middle of them. In the circle were Edward Elric and Dina ready for the fight. Ed took off his red coat and his black anorak while Dina took off her poncho. After a few seconds she decided to take off her black anorak as well. What was left on her was a red tight undershirt, her leather jeans and her boots.

"Whenever you're ready…" Ed said calmly, waiting for her in a defense position.

Dina was standing still looking at her feet with her hands strained in fists concentrating on her first move. The plan was easy: make him a bit tired and then strike with all her power.

She lifted her sigh up to Ed's face and breathed deeply. Then she ran towards him and tried to punch him in the stomach. She didn't have any luck with that because, as everyone had expected, Ed dodged her strike. She jumped back quickly so he wouldn't have enough time to hit her. She ran to him again and tried to kick him in the same place. He avoided that, too. She jumped back making a loop in the air and landing on her hands; then she bounced back trying to hit his head with her right foot, but he defended himself by putting his arms above his head in an X. He pushed her strongly and she landed on her left shoulder getting a scratch on her arm. While she was down, Ed approached her and wanted to kick her in the stomach. She then rolled over managing to avoid his attack. She got up, clapped her hands and placed them quickly on the ground. In an instant, a huge soil wall grew around her and no one could see her, being behind it. Then Ed clapped his hands also and hit the huge wall with them. Next minute, the wall fell and transformed into sand; but she wasn't there anymore. All that was left was a hole in the ground. Ed went nearer and looked into the hole, trying to see her hiding.

"She gave up, Mr. Elric!" Mustang said loudly.

Edward turned towards him and looked confused. "I don't think so…"

Then, the ground started shaking, like an earth quake. Ed could feel something under him and jumped away from the place he was staying just in time to let Dina rising out of the ground.

"You're good…" he said smiling.

Dina landed loudly on the ground. Then someone from the crowd threw her a short sword. Ed thought that is bad: people started to help her, which didn't mean good luck for him. She caught the sword easily. He then transmuted his automail into a sword right before she attacked dodging her in time. She backed up a little and then she tried again. Ed blocked her strike but she was still strong enough to keep him under her sword. Then he hit his left hand on his sword-hand and touched Dina's blade. Being in touch with his arm, the sword was assimilated to it and his blade became bigger while she didn't have any weapon to attack with. She quickly jumped back and she clapped her hands.

"I won't let you do that again!" Ed said while trying to hit her with his blade. Dina jumped aside while rubbing her right hand with her left one. Then, long iron claws grew instead of her nails.

"What the…?" not only Ed, but everyone was surprised by that. The young man just abstained from fighting to figure out what was actually happening. They were standing one in front of each other, staring one at another and waiting for one another to attack.

"I see you're too stunned…" Dina said smiling. "I'm not." Then she ran towards Edward cutting his shirt into half and scratching his abdomen but when she jumped back, she tripped and fell in the hole she made earlier. She managed to grip the edge of the hole.

"What was that?" Ed asked ironically.

Dina tried to get up but she seemed to twist her ankle when she fell. Ed approached her slowly and cautious to see what happened to her. If she wouldn't get up, the fight would've been over. Ed thought that that was it and she lost his watch. That would've been a relief, but still he was ready to defend himself because he noticed that she's quite unforeseeable. Dina managed to finally get up and looked right into Ed's eyes trying to say "go on! I'm ready". Then Edward ran towards Dina and attacked her with his sword-hand but she avoided him with her iron claws and jumped a few feet back so she can leave a considerable distance between them. Since she couldn't move too much because of her ankle, she left him run towards her and attack her again. She dodged his attack with her claws, but he was still persisting, and pushing her hand. Then she hit her right hand with her left one, she touched Ed's iron arm and she took back her sword. She pushed him away using the sword and her claws and he was forced to jump back, or else he would've fallen on his back and would've risked hurting his vertebral colon. Then someone from the crowd threw him a sword too. He caught it and immediately ran towards the girl and attacked her with his sword. She used hers to defend herself, but Ed turned his and threw both hers and his swords away. After that, Dina launched her right hand towards Ed but he jumped back and she managed only to scratch his face. Before he landed, Dina threw a soil column from the ground using alchemy and hit him with it; he fell on his left shoulder, hurting it badly. She didn't move from the place she was, just to have a couple of seconds so she can breathe properly. Ed got up slowly, calculating his next moves. He would've needed some help again but no one was giving it to him. He went slowly across the circle they were, took the piece of cloth which was once his shirt and tied it around his right hand. The Flame Alchemist was watching him carefully and foresaw what he was waiting for.

"Full Metal!" he shouted.

Edward looked at Mustang and rose his automail. The colonel snapped his right hand's fingers and a fire burst into the middle of the circle covering Ed's iron hand as well. After the fire disappeared, there were sparkling bits of glass al over the ground between the two fighters and Ed's hand was black – carbonized. He hit his sword-hand with the right one and a bluish light covered it leaving sparkling bits when it disappeared. Dina quickly assimilated some glass from the ground onto her claws right before Ed attacked her, but she ran out of luck, because his sword-hand ripped off her glass claws and stopped right before cutting her pretty nose.

She didn't have anything in mind to continue with. Her claws were the only hidden ace she had, and now they were only five pieces of glass on the ground. That was all she could do.

"Listen to me" Ed whispered to her. The girl moved her frightened gaze from his sword-hand to his eyes. "I can kill you here. Not only that I am able to, but I am allowed to. You don't need to continue. My advice is to give up. I don't want to kill you. And even if you're the one how will defeat me, you don't deserve what you're about to receive."

Dina didn't like his last sentence. "I don't deserve what I'm about to receive?!" she thought. "Even if I'll beat him, I am STILL not capable enough?! What a…"

"And it's not the watch I'm talking about" Ed added.

Suddenly Dina's eyes grew bigger. She moved her eyes down and to the right. She remembered the absent gaze the librarian had when he told her about the watch. She then remembered that she couldn't continue her research without the watch. She was nobody, nothing, without the watch. She needed that watch, so even if she apparently was defeated by Ed she could still try to beat him as she was still alive.

"Don't do it… You don't have to be neither a dead body nor the army's dog…" Ed whispered again with a helpless expression on his face.

Dina looked again at him and sighed. She looked around at the crowd watching them. She looked at the watch chain hanging out of Edward's pocket, then at the glass sticks that used to be claws. She stepped a few steps backwards closed her eyes, took e deep breath and rose her shaking arm in the air. She opened her eyes and said with a shaking voice: "I give up."

After that, there was a silence broken by Mustang's voice: "Dina may not receive the watch since she has been defeated."

Edward pointed his sword-hand down and took a deep breath. The next minute he was kicked in the face by Dina and thrown on the ground loudly. Everyone started to clap their hands and laugh. The Full Metal Alchemist got immediately up and shouted at Dina: "I thought you gave up!"

"I did" she said smiling at Edward.

"Then what was that for?!" he asked confused.

"The claws!" she replied still smiling.

Edward 'fell hitting his face on the ground' then turned towards the crowd and yelled: "SHUT UP, WILL YOU?!"

The soldiers slowly stopped laughing and leaved one by one. Eventually, the only ones who remained were Dina and the Elrics. Using alchemy, Edward transmuted his sword hand back into his original automail, sparkling bits falling to the ground. The girl took the glass claws, assimilated them to what was left on her nails and, using also alchemy, she got rid of the glass and made her hand normal again. Dina put on her anorak and her poncho while Ed did the same with his clothes. The girl wanted to leave.

"Dina?" Al said shy.

"Yes?" she replied turning around. Ed turned towards his brother as well.

"Would you like joining us for supper?"

"HAA?" his brother asked his eyes growing bigger. "Didn't you have to ask ME first?" he whispered.

But Al didn't answer him. Instead, he asked the girl once again: "Well?"

Dina closed her eyes and smiled. "Sure!"


End file.
